The book I read was The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This book had many key characters including Hester Payne, Roger Chillingworth, Author Dimsdale, and Hester’s daughter Pearl. All of these characters had an inner battle and had to deal with a puritan rule. This rule caused much pain and many problems for these four main characters. In this society that these characters lived in religion and politics ruled over everything else. In that once judgments were passed upon someone they could never be changed even with doing good deeds. This puritan rule over all was ignorant and very unfair, which led to much misery. Now that I explained a little bit of the setting that they had to live in, I will go into more detail about the main characters.
The first crucial character in this book has Hester Payne. Hester was a young and beautiful woman. Hester had dark, glossy hair and had striking features. Hester was very lady like and dignified. She was a very talented seamstress who could make the most beautiful clothing anyone ever saw, her work was sought after from many people in the town. Although beautiful and talented Hester’s sins made her life miserable and changed her in many ways. At the beginning Hester is strong willed had a sort of passionate nature, but was afraid and is weak emotionally because of this punishment she has to endure in front of all the townspeople. " …For haughty as her demeanor was, she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung into the street for them all to spurn and trample upon." Although she is in pain she does not deny what she has done and accepts the punishment that is bestowed on her. Toward the end of the book Hester becomes more known as giving in that she does a lot of charity work and helps with the poor. She also becomes more compassionate as a result of all that she went through. Instead wearing her "A" in shame, she accepts it and it becomes a part of her. "The Scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, -stern and wild ones, - and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss."
The second main character in this book was Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth was Hester’s legal husband. He was older than Hester and had a deformity of his shoulders. Roger Chillingworth had a background in European science and faked that he was a doctor when he moved to Boston. Roger at first took some of the blame when he found out what had happened, he knew that he wasn’t what Hester really wanted in a husband. " Misshapen from my birth-hour, how could I delude myself with the idea that intellectual gifts might veil physical deformity in a younger girl’s fantasy!" But then as time goes on he gets bitter and wants to seek revenge on not only Hester but also the man she had an affair with. When he suspects the young Reverend Dimsdale he makes it awful for him. At first the people welcome Roger but as time goes on and his demeanor changes he becomes known as a Satan like figure, who was sent to torture Arthur Dimsdale. "…. It grew to be a widely diffused opinion, that the Reverend Arthur Dimsdale, like many other personages of especial sanctity, in all ages of the Christian world, was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan’s emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth."
The third significant character in this book would be Arthur Dimsdale. Arthur was a young reverend who lived in Boston and was a prominent figure in the town. After the whole affair takes place Dimsdale becomes miserable because he knows what he has done and he also knows that he can never confess his sin. " Where it God’s will, I could be well content that my labors, and my sorrows, and my sins, and my pains, should shortly end with me, and what is earthly of them be buried in my grave…." This absolutely makes him mentally and physically ill. Finally as time goes on the guilt gets to be too much for him. Usually strong willed the Reverend has become a frail version of what used to be, until he and Hester decide they are going to leave with Pearl to become a family. After making this plan the reverend seems to improve in health and he has a whole new outlook. In the end though knowing he is dying and for Pearl and Hester’s sake he decides to confess his sins. " For thee and Pearl, be it as God shall order, and God is merciful! Let me now do the will which He hath made plain before my sight. For, Hester, I am a dying man. So let me make haste to take my shame upon me!" After his dramatic confession the reverend dies in peace no longer having the burden of what he did.
The last key character in this book was Hester’s daughter Pearl. Pearl was just like her mother exceptionally beautiful, but also very stubborn and outspoken. It seems that just being born Pearl is doomed because, of the affair her mother had with her father. Through this book Pearl is known as a demon child to the townspeople, but she was a constant companion to her mother. When she finds out that the Reverend is her father she gets kind of confused and thinks maybe things will be different. " Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into town?" This signifies that he would acknowledge his sins and finally come out as being her father. When she is told he wont just yet she didn’t want anything to do with him. Like when he tries to kiss her forehead she runs and washes it off. When it gets closer to the end and the reverend had confessed, he asks Pearl if she will kiss him. " My little Pearl, dear little Pearl, wilt thou kiss me now? Thou wouldst not, yonder, in the forest! But now wilt?" When Pearl finally kissed her father it signified that she pledged to no longer be bitter at the world but to grow up normally. Which she ended up going and finding someone and getting married.
In conclusion those are the main characters that were in this story. All the characters not only played a major role in the book but also, in the lives of one another. Without one the story would not have been what it was.
The book I read was The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This book had many key characters including Hester Payne, Roger Chillingworth, Author Dimsdale, and Hester’s daughter Pearl. All of these characters had an inner battle and had to deal with a puritan rule. This rule caused much pain and many problems for these four main characters. In this society that these characters lived in religion and politics ruled over everything else. In that once judgments were passed upon someone they could never be changed even with doing good deeds. This puritan rule over all was ignorant and very unfair, which led to much misery. Now that I explained a little bit of the setting that they had to live in, I will go into more detail about the main characters.
The first crucial character in this book has Hester Payne. Hester was a young and beautiful woman. Hester had dark, glossy hair and had striking features. Hester was very lady like and dignified. She was a very talented seamstress who could make the most beautiful clothing anyone ever saw, her work was sought after from many people in the town. Although beautiful and talented Hester’s sins made her life miserable and changed her in many ways. At the beginning Hester is strong willed had a sort of passionate nature, but was afraid and is weak emotionally because of this punishment she has to endure in front of all the townspeople. " …For haughty as her demeanor was, she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung into the street for them all to spurn and trample upon." Although she is in pain she does not deny what she has done and accepts the punishment that is bestowed on her. Toward the end of the book Hester becomes more known as giving in that she does a lot of charity work and helps with the poor. She also becomes more compassionate as a result of all that she went through. Instead wearing her "A" in shame, she accepts it and it becomes a part of her. "The Scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, -stern and wild ones, - and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss."
The second main character in this book was Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth was Hester’s legal husband. He was older than Hester and had a deformity of his shoulders. Roger Chillingworth had a background in European science and faked that he was a doctor when he moved to Boston. Roger at first took some of the blame when he found out what had happened, he knew that he wasn’t what Hester really wanted in a husband. " Misshapen from my birth-hour, how could I delude myself with the idea that intellectual gifts might veil physical deformity in a younger girl’s fantasy!" But then as time goes on he gets bitter and wants to seek revenge on not only Hester but also the man she had an affair with. When he suspects the young Reverend Dimsdale he makes it awful for him. At first the people welcome Roger but as time goes on and his demeanor changes he becomes known as a Satan like figure, who was sent to torture Arthur Dimsdale. "…. It grew to be a widely diffused opinion, that the Reverend Arthur Dimsdale, like many other personages of especial sanctity, in all ages of the Christian world, was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan’s emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth."
The third significant character in this book would be Arthur Dimsdale. Arthur was a young reverend who lived in Boston and was a prominent figure in the town. After the whole affair takes place Dimsdale becomes miserable because he knows what he has done and he also knows that he can never confess his sin. " Where it God’s will, I could be well content that my labors, and my sorrows, and my sins, and my pains, should shortly end with me, and what is earthly of them be buried in my grave…." This absolutely makes him mentally and physically ill. Finally as time goes on the guilt gets to be too much for him. Usually strong willed the Reverend has become a frail version of what used to be, until he and Hester decide they are going to leave with Pearl to become a family. After making this plan the reverend seems to improve in health and he has a whole new outlook. In the end though knowing he is dying and for Pearl and Hester’s sake he decides to confess his sins. " For thee and Pearl, be it as God shall order, and God is merciful! Let me now do the will which He hath made plain before my sight. For, Hester, I am a dying man. So let me make haste to take my shame upon me!" After his dramatic confession the reverend dies in peace no longer having the burden of what he did.
The last key character in this book was Hester’s daughter Pearl. Pearl was just like her mother exceptionally beautiful, but also very stubborn and outspoken. It seems that just being born Pearl is doomed because, of the affair her mother had with her father. Through this book Pearl is known as a demon child to the townspeople, but she was a constant companion to her mother. When she finds out that the Reverend is her father she gets kind of confused and thinks maybe things will be different. " Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into town?" This signifies that he would acknowledge his sins and finally come out as being her father. When she is told he wont just yet she didn’t want anything to do with him. Like when he tries to kiss her forehead she runs and washes it off. When it gets closer to the end and the reverend had confessed, he asks Pearl if she will kiss him. " My little Pearl, dear little Pearl, wilt thou kiss me now? Thou wouldst not, yonder, in the forest! But now wilt?" When Pearl finally kissed her father it signified that she pledged to no longer be bitter at the world but to grow up normally. Which she ended up going and finding someone and getting married.
In conclusion those are the main characters that were in this story. All the characters not only played a major role in the book but also, in the lives of one another. Without one the story would not have been what it was.